Montana to open voting offices on reservations

Source: Associated Press

Montana to open voting offices on reservations
| June 12, 2014 | Updated: June 12, 2014 5:44pm

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana will open satellite voting offices on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations in October as part of a settlement in a federal voting-rights lawsuit.

The offices will be open twice week for late registration and for voters to cast absentee ballots for the Nov. 4 general elections, the Great Falls Tribune reported in a story published Thursday (http://gftrib.com/1pptOVb ).

Last year, 12 Indian plaintiffs sued Secretary of State Linda McCulloch and elections officials in Blaine, Rosebud and Big Horn counties. They argued they had to drive long distances to county courthouses — in some instances, a more than 100 miles roundtrip — to register late and vote early in elections.

Their lawsuit said the lack of satellite offices made it difficult to vote in the 2012 elections and violated the federal Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discriminatory voting practices or procedures.

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, the ACLU of Montana and the national ACLU Voting Rights Project supported the plaintiffs' claims that tribal members living on the three reservations are at a voting disadvantage compared to white voters in Rosebud, Blaine and Big Horn counties.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/article/Montana-to-open-voting-offices-on-reservations-5548794.php